Am I a Mayavadi? Really?

Sri gurubhyo namaha.

It is beginning to get tiring now to excuse the lack of regular updates to this page, so I wont go into that anymore. Perhaps it is the Vata predominance in my prakruti that is to be blamed for the erratic nature of all that I do (ayurvedic excuse) or maybe the moon in Gemini (astrological excuse) . Or maybe it might have something to do with the mystical herb, known as it is for altering the perception of time. I think only a few days have gone by and in reality its more than a month. Gone without a trace, sucked into itself like the camphor flame going out, leaving no residual light.

Never mind the month passing by unnoticed, I am so bad with time that it is legendary. The years roll by and I don't even notice it. Oh, the woes of being so preoccupied with the present! The arrival of the spring, of autumn and such seasonal events register somewhere deep. From shivaratri to navaratri, the passing of time is duly catalogued somewhere. But the overall vision of the cycle is totally lost on me. Some things though leave an imprint so strong that they don't pass me by.

Today is a special day in the year. It was this day eleven years ago (like I said, somethings leave strong imprints impossible to forget or ignore) that the journey of my life found its purpose. It was this day eleven years ago that I crossed ' The bridge across forever' and arrived 'home' to my soul. In a place most magical, beyond all time and space. This day eleven years ago saw me walking hand in hand, on the way to unparalleled bliss. And today, looking back, the events of this day ages ago feel as euphoric and tingly as they were then. Saturated as I am with those memories, I could be forgiven for assuming that bliss and exhilaration are my very nature. Which they are!
Now, coming closer to the point (of bliss & exhilaration being my very nature), I want to ask you something. A conversation yesterday touched on my perception of the world, life and everything. It seems that I (the famous or infamous, as you would have it), a staunch opponent of Mayavada (the argument which holds all things in this physical world are mere illusions/unreal, in short) have come across as one who does look on the world as illusory. The posts in this blog and most of what I say and do apparently seem to convey my belief that this world is merely dream like and that prayer and meditation etc are the only true things. I didn't think so. But, for the sake of being true to the debate and being impartial (as if!) I went over some of the posts from some time back to see if that could be true. And as I would have thought, it appears to me from my own words (through the eyes of an impersonal observer, mind you) that I am the diametric opposite of a mayavadi (a proponent of the Mayavada).

I would not for a second believe that the world out there is an illusion, nor would I have you believe that the world and its infinite experiences are insubstantial yourself. I take immense delight, every second of the day, in the incredible diversity and beauty that is this world. If this were a dream, it is certainly one of the best. Worth every bit the effort spent in 'not waking up' from it. I have always held that it is in embracing (and not divorcing) this world lies the easiest and the most enjoyable of all paths to the supreme. Life and living it is the 'sahaja' or the most natural path for us. Anything else is a contrived path. I have also always held that it is not the world and the world experiences that are unreal, but our perception of it (seen through the filter or lens of individuality or the ego sense) that is the illusion. Maya to me is the most supreme form of that Brahman. Maya as I see it is the devi's supreme gift to the infinite jivas and to Shiva, Her lord and slave!! The shakti or power through which the One being spontaneously appears as many, the power through which everything is made manifest from apparently nothing (like the magician pulling out yards and yards of silk from his (apparently) empty hands), is Maya. She is the mother of even the gods, the mother of universes vast and infinite. Certainly She is not false or illusory in the negative sense. I mean, Her Maya does not operate/initiate to delude the lost jivas. Rather, it is an outpouring of Her compassion and Love - a gift to the jivas who need a medium to experience actions and their fruits. Repeatedly, till they realise their oneness with Her and the manifold universes that are all the spontaneous product of the same Maya. Once again, it is not the world appearance that is false/illusory - it is their apparent diversity and multiplicity that is false.

It is like the one moon in the sky being reflected in a million puddles of water. The millions of moons seen in the puddles are all real reflections, it is not a dream or a mirage. But the perception of the million moons could not be constructed to be proof of the existence of a million moons. Similarly, the infinite beings (both sentient and otherwise) on earth and elsewhere, throughout the vast and endless universe(s) are all reflections of the One supreme being. Seen, understood and experienced in their context as reflections, this manifold creation is real in every sense of the word. But when taken out of context and seen as something real of its own accord, this becomes a world of never ending duality/multiplicity - and that is what is 'unreal'.
It is only the fool who is deluded by this apparent diversity and is lost when trying to find 'reality'. The wise one though takes delight in the diversity, as, for him there are as many methods to see and praise his maker as there are different things in the world!

Having said my piece, I would appreciate your comment on this one question -
Knowing me (if you are one of the readers who do) and/or going through the many posts in this blog, would you say I am one who perceives this world as a false appearance (and holds that prayer and meditation are the only true things), or would you say I belong to the opposite camp?
By the way, you can ignore the content of this post in making your mind up. It was not my intention to swing your vote this way or that! Just let me know, how I come across to you personally.